Bas and Julia on the road

When you are going on a road trip with another couple you always hope, that things will work out great. This hope was briefly but strongly disturbed the morning before we left. At breakfast Bas spilled some egg which forced Elaine to laugh and say: "you had an egg-cident". The whole table fell silent and even Elaine was thinking out loud: "My god, is this the level of humor we'll have these 2,5 weeks!?" After the silence a big relief overwhelmed us all. From this moment on everything could only get better. And oh it did, in every possible way.

First stop on our list was Oaxaca, this beautiful colonial town known for its Mexican haute cuisine and indigenous handicrafts, surrounded by mountains and several impressive historical ruins. The very first night we were able to recognize the culinary delight this city had to offer. We tried grasshoppers and several other dishes served with different moles. Moles are sauces of which the mole negro is the tastiest and most famous one. A thick dark sauce that almost tastes like chocolate and spices up the dinner. The first mescal to help digest was received with mixed emotions.
Next day we visited Monte Alban, ruins dating back to 500 BC and occupied by Zapotecs. Way before the Maya and Aztecs, the Zapotecs built huge temples and astronomical observatories, organized lively markets in the central plaza and played football to please the Gods. Now, someone should rethink the assumption, that the Brits founded this game. Only the captains of the winning teams wouldn't be sacrificed in the modern version. Maybe reintroduce?!

To experience the indigenous life of modern days and the nature of the region, we set for a day of hiking around Oaxaca, the next day. When it started raining we just thought, that we are not of sugar and enjoyed the walk. Who would have thought, that life would come to a standstill, when the Rain-God says so? After the hike and a relaxing movie on a very regional huge flat screen, we were looking forward to our nice room and a decent dinner in town. But the Gods made our bus not come. So we were wet and stranded. Luckily, there was a nice hut with a fireplace and a small store with beers and junk food. This is how we opened our "summer camp" for the night. And this is how annoying situations turn out great - making us talk and having beers until late at night.

San Cristobal de las Casas was our next destination. Here we learned the most important lesson of the trip - Always separate the Hippies!! They first came to support the revolutionary Zapatistas but ended up juggling and selling handicrafts, which we preferred to buy from the real locals. By the way, if your thing is masked, fully armed puppets of revolutionaries, San Cristobal is your town to go shopping. Did we already mention, that we really loved this town? No, really! It was a colorful one-story houses colonial heaven with delicious restaurants like "Emiliano's Moustache", where we had the best tacos so far!
Like the real Mexicans always do, we climbed our horses to visit San Juan Chamula, a small indigenous village with peculiar traditions and rituals. The church looks catholic alright and the saints worshiped are definitely as catholic as Bas and Bryan. But Ratzinger would infuriate his Vatican lethal power, if he knew, what really goes on in this place. Here the locals perform Mayan religious practices. This was the only way, back in the day, to preserve their religion in disguise. The floor is covered in pine needles and thousands of candle lights. The church was filled with cans of refreshment drinks. The Maya believe, that two things should never lack; fire and water. Obviously Coke and Sprite are the better water. Everyone is sitting on the floor, praying, singing, crying and mumbling. The culmination of the ceremony is the sacrifice of a chicken on the altar. We stood there having mixed emotions of intrusion and fascination.
Hereafter, we jumped on our horses, drank two tequilas and shot two drug lords before arriving safe in San Cristobal again, where Bryan put on a sombrero and played a song on his guitar.

We conquered the Mexican cities and now it was time to conquer the jungle and the howler monkeys. First Elias our great guide showed us Palenque, the famous Mayan palaces in the jungle. From here he brought us to our homes at the river surrounded by all animals and insects imaginable. We woke up early in the morning by the loud screams of howler monkeys. Not even an hour later we sounded just like them, when we rafted down the river full of waterfalls. When the guide screamed:"adelante fuerte", we peddled like idiots and when he screamed: "abajo", we dove into the boat before tumbling down the waterfalls. Ain't life grand?!
From here we had to take the boat to Yaxchilan, beautifully preserved ruins in the middle of the jungle, only reachable by water. Most impressive was the magnificent acropolis with many well-preserved hieroglyphs.

After these days of power tourism, we decided to chill in Valladolid. We spent a day laying at our hotel pool, drinking beer, having good food and doing nothing. Valladolid gave us also the opportunity to visit our fourth World Wonder this trip. After the Taj Mahal, the Chinese wall and Machu Picchu it was time for Chichen Itza. This pyramid is not only impressive because of its huge proportions but also because it is an astronomic instrument in itself. Twice a year, during the equinox, the sun shines in such a position at the central pyramid, that only the huge snakes are illuminated. Every layer and each stone is part of one big Mayan calender. If you clap your hands in front of the building, the echo you hear is the sound of the sacred Maya bird. Wow, could they build!!
Valladolid is also the place to visit and swim in cenotes, big caves under the earth filled with water. Normally people swim with fish, but we swam surrounded by flying bats and the echo of our laughter.

From Valladolid we could almost smell the Caribbean, so we made it fast to our final destination... Tulum... famous for its beautiful ruins, white beaches, palm trees and turquoise sea. Here our days of hammocking, swimming, reading, drinking Corona and eating ceviche were to start. We enjoyed four great days with Elaine and Bryan, who had to return to Berlin. Not only we were sad. The Rain-and-Storm-Gods cried for three days and we had to support the windows of our beautiful room at the beach with loads of plastic to keep the rain from coming in. Finally the sun came trough again, so that we could enjoy the last week after these 8,5 amazing months. One full week of sun-bathing, swimming, snorkeling with huge turtles and loooots of reading.

A summary of Mexico: ruins, tacos, beer, mescal, tequila, surviving Mexico City, seeing family and friends, eating and drinking with sombreros, participating in a drug war, swimming, snorkeling, horse riding, hiking, cycling, rafting, tarantula, iguanas, geckos, turtles, many colorful fish, howler and spider monkeys, snakes and ... beach. Looks like we covered it all!

This is how our journey ends after 8,5 months. That's right, friends. As you read this, we are flying back to Germany. See you very soon!
Besos!

Arriving in Mexico City, formally known as Tenochtitlan, was a sort of homecoming. First, there was Monika, a.k.a. Hank Moody, who picked us up from the airport and offered us a week of great hospitality. Then, there was Rob, the artist formally known as Bas'Brother, who decided a couple months ago to try his luck in Mexico City. Then, there was Nadine, she felt like 2 weeks vacation. Then, Chrisu booked a last minute flight and showed up with a weekend bag with 2 t-shirts. Finally Elaine and Bryan arrived from the Hain to join us in a 3 week road trip in this country of ruins, tacos, jungles, beaches and much more. On our last night in Mexico City we counted 8 Berlin heads... not bad!!!

We thought that Chinese was the most challenging language on our route, but the pre-Hispanic language proved to be truly unpronounceable. Lets try: Teotihuacan, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli. See?! Only with the flawless pronunciation of Popocatepetl could Jules impress the Mexicans- thanks a million, Herr Hinze from 8th grade

On Robs birthday, which we celebrated in style with chocolate cake and some small presents in the evening, we all joined in a nice cultural adventure during the day.
Everyone has heard of Maya and Aztec, but what about civilizations before them? The people of Teotihuacan flourished for centuries and disappeared leaving gigantic pyramids which much later amazed the Aztecs and made them believe that it was a city, where Gods lived. Today, we don't know anything about these people - how they lived, what they believed in and when or why they abandoned the site. Everyone who saw the movie "Frida" can imagine, how impressed we were climbing the steep steps of these pyramids, just like Frida did with Leo Trotzky.

The weekend was approaching and as many Mex. City people do, we decided to leave the city and enjoy the beach. For that the glamorous city of Acapulco and Monikas parents' weekend home sounded more then perfect. We did not see much of the old famous glamor but also nothing of the crazy drug war going on in this town. We enjoyed sun, beach, great food and long evenings of domino games with Monika and Rob. What a life!

Back in Mexico City we jumped in the car again, picked up freshly arrived Elaine and Bryan, headed off to a weekend after a weekend and enjoyed the pretty little town of Cuernavaca. And again, great food, amazing home and long evenings of talking, listening to music and playing pool and darts. The days were filled with swimming and wrestling with Sanson the dog and tennis matches between Bryan and Bas, Sanson as referee. What a life!

We could not leave Mexico City without celebrating a last evening with the Berlin crowd. The vodka was cold and Mexico City felt like good old Berlin for a couple of hours.
Now it was enough of the easy life in luxury. We started our road trip, a.k.a. "Deadly Mexican Prison Break" with Elaine and Bryan. Stay tuned for a story about jungles, rafting, eating grass hoppers and drinking Mescal...

Is it possible to live solely of love, steak, red wine and Tango?
In Argentina it absolutely is. Juicy, bloody steaks and gallons of red wine are found in parillas on every street corner. Tango is danced at milongas, where old and young Argentinians share their love for this sensual dance.
Love is truly found everywhere; love for their country, for their music and dance and of course for football.
When Boca Juniors play, it is impossible not to be moved by the fans' love and enthusiasm. Or maybe it is because the whole stadium is rocking on its fundaments and therefore impossible to sit still? It doesn't matter, Argentina is a country that loves and wants to be loved... And that's exactly what we did.

Starting in the north, we first visited the Iguazu Falls. These falls are so impressive and massive that after seeing them Eleanor Roosevelt proclaimed: "Oh, poor Niagara". Maybe this is the best way to describe this massive wall of water tumbling down in a loud, deafening roar producing white fog high up in the skies and nourishing a lush rain forest around it. We had an amazing day of being stunned and getting soaked.

Before heading to Buenos Aires, we spent four days at a traditional Estancia and tried to get a grasp of the life Gauchos used to live in the Pampa. For us this meant sleeping in a beautiful 19th. century ranch, riding horses, grilling tons of meat and drinking lots of red wine. We don't know, who said that Gauchos lived a harsh, lonely life in the Pampas. We can tell you, that these Cowboys shouldn't complain. Easiest four days of our lives!

Finally we got to enjoy that lovely city of Buenos Aires, with its charming neighbourhoods San Telmo, Palermo and Boca. We saw the Boca Juniors at the Bombonera and celebrated their 1:0 victory. The fans didn't stop singing and dancing until late at night, and this was just a minor opponent they played. Imagine, when they play River Plate!
We took tango lessons in a Milonga which looked like Tacheles in Berlin. We danced our first, humble steps for hours with Porteños of all ages. All dancers were so involved in the tango and their changing partners, that we could experiment and learn without drawing any funny looks...

For the love of music we went into a CD-store to make a pick, or two, or three. One would say it was torture, the other would say it was heaven - too much choice. After fierce fights and discussions, we decided for an instrumental, a vocal and an experimental/ electronic tango CD. The last one inspired by our experience the night before. So the night before... All dressed up and curious we sat in the grand hall of the Gran Rex Teatro on the "Broadway" of Buenos Aires not knowing, what to expect - dance, singing or weird experiments with music. What the GOTAN Project had to offer impressed us to the bone and made us (and everyone else) shake it to the hot and sensual rhythms.

When Porteños speak of Boca, they say: "You have to go there, but take the bus or taxi- don't walk and don't leave the designated tourist street." Okayyyyy, we thought - another zoo-experience with herds of tourists walking from souvenir shop to souvenir shop and stopping for the "real" and "casual" tango or gaucho performance. Whoohoo, so we went by bus and did not leave the zone... Yes, there were herds of tourists and souvenir shops and tango. But there was also an overwhelming charm of colorful houses, Maradonna puppets greeting you from balconies and artists selling their beautiful paintings and statues. In other words, it was impossible not to fall for this neighbourhood and curb the income of a couple of local artists.

Roaming the romantic streets of Buenos Aires, sipping coffee in old charming cafes, shopping and admiring the beautiful architecture, we absolutely loved this city. The last night we went to Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo. Here we danced the tango at a street Milonga on this romantic square. We could dance this beautiful dance eternally.
Looks like we have to go back one day!

The buses may be blessed, but the roads are not paved.
The bus drivers may be called Jesus, but they all chew coca-leaves and drive like madmen.
Oh Bolivia, you crazy but beautiful roller coaster ride.

It all started in Copacabana, a small city at the shore of the holy Lake Titicaca. The name promises you endless white beaches and turquoise water. The reality couldn't be more far of. Lake Titicaca sits at 3.800 meters above sea level, which makes it the highest lake in the world and very cold at night. The surroundings are surreal, mystical and full of local legends. According to the Incas, the god Viracocha arose from Lake Titicaca to create the world. He commanded the sun (Inti), moon (Mama Kilya) and stars to rise, then went to Tiahuanaco to create the first human beings, Mallku Kapac and Mama Ocllo. Sounds like the Bible, right?!

We arrived early in the morning, together with a great couple we met in Peru. Jérôme, the first human being from Luxembourg we met in our lives and Nitisha, his lovely wife, both living and teaching in London. It was spontaneously decided that we would travel together in Bolivia and experience the great things this country has to offer.

The first thing we witnessed was an endless traffic jam of cars, buses and pick-up trucks slowly making their way to the beautiful white cathedral. In front of the cathedral people would dress up their cars with colorful flowers and garlands as well as light up loads of loud firecrackers. The priest would bless the car with holy water and incense, after receiving the proper money, of course.
Right after this colorful and loud religious feast, we were confronted with the next voodoo-like rituals spiced up with a catholic flavour. Climbing the mountain of the thirteen crosses, we passed hundreds of locals performing strange ceremonies. Candles were burned in front of miniature houses and cars. Firework was thrown around like confetti. People got blessed by spraying beer from bottles and others held armadillos in their arms and shook them wildly . Seeing Lake Titicaca from above through an array of smoke, crosses and praying people getting drunk, we knew that we arrived in a holy place.
The next day we set off on a boat to visit Isla del Sol & Isla de la Luna. Finally we would see where the sun and the moon were born. Sitting on a boat, cruising quiet & abandoned Lake Titicaca, you don't have to have a lot of imagination to believe the old Inca myths. The place gets to you and you can see, why they sacrificed a young beautiful virgin every year

Nuestra Señora de la Paz was another confrontation with indigenous rituals. Every big city we visited in South America had a touch of modernity. But not La Paz. Here the streets are filled with traditionally dressed women. The city actually feels like one big market, where everything is being sold. From soap to dried Llama foetuses for blessing new houses, and from beer to herbs for (voodoo)-rituals.
Eating with the locals was a great experience. Our plates were filled with small red potatoes and deep fried tiny river fish. But the best indigenous experience in La Paz was having Bitterballen and Heineken in a really local Dutch bar. Even the Nasi-Goreng tasted like at home. Oh Holland, you country of rich traditions To make the indigenous experience complete, we watched Newcastle-Arsenal in an English pub, having large portions of chips and over-cooked steak. England, yet another country to set the tone for rich culture...

After 12hour bus ride through the night over unpaved road (some would later say, it was the worst ride of their young lives) we finally reached Uyuni, a deserted frontier town at the shore of the Salar. Here the highlight of our Bolivia trip would start. And a highlight it was! For three day the four of us drove with a 4WD over a moon-like landscape passing geysers, volcanoes, valleys filled with bizarre shaped rocks up to huge lagoons where the water is blood red and thousands of pink flamingos live. We wondered, how anything could live under these extremely cold circumstances around 5.000 meters high. At night in our basic accommodations, we only had a bottle of vodka and a game of cards to keep us warm. We cannot describe the out-of-this-world and bizarre ride we had on the last morning. Cruising over the whiter than white endless salt desert (Salar) seeing the sun rise, is just something you have to experience once in your life. It felt like we were flying through an endless white space. We absolutely believed we were the last people from earth being anywhere but on this planet.
In the middle of this white ocean is a small island which is filled with thousands of cactuses, some of them as high as 18 meters. Every shot you take is like a winning photo for the National Geographic. Of course we couldn't resist getting all touristic and creative and take the funny pictures everybody takes. But hey... they are funny...look and judge for yourself!
Arriving back to a semi-warm shower in Uyuni, which must be the most depressing place on earth, next to Almere, was heaven. But even Uyuni managed to get a little more depressing, when we had to say goodbye to Jérôme & Nitisha.

For us the journey went on to Tupiza, a small laid back city in the beautiful canyons of southern Bolivia. In this region Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed. We spent a day horse-back riding, walking and mountain-biking through these amazing colorful canyons. In the evening we went a wrestling show, where women in traditional clothes smashed each others heads, all in the name of truly traditional entertainment.

Before we headed into the jungle, we visited the beautiful colonial cities of Potosi and Sucre. Potosi, considered to be the highest city in the world at 4.090 meters, has a history of hope and smashed dreams. It was founded after the Spanish found a mountain filled with silver. In more than 300 years the Spanish collected enough silver to build a bridge from Potosi to the royal palace in Spain and still fill up their treasure chests with more. Millions of imported slaves and locals died in the process. The silver has dried up, but other minerals are still dug from the mines. Sadly, the circumstances under which the miners have to work didn't really improve since the Spanish left long, long time ago.
A more cheerful story was to be found in Sucre where we discovered a German cultural center with a Berlin cafe. Homesick as J was she couldnt stop hugging the bear! B couldnt resist eating a Bratwurst.

Arriving back at sea level in Santa Cruz after 6 weeks in high altitude and cold nights, we finally put our flip flops back on and were ready to dive into the jungle. Sleeping in a tent at a small river in the middle of the jungle was a "different" experience. The sounds of insects at night are deafening but still make you sleep like a baby. The foot-prints of pumas and jaguars as well as their roaring sounds in some distance make you a little bit worried, though. Crawling through endless trees and bushes, we welcomed the waterfalls and happily dived into them to cool off. J got all Janed-up and flew from one tree to another hanging on a liana. Walking around the forest we felt like midgets surrounded by huge trees and bushes with huge leafs. We didn't encounter a puma or jaguar, but saw thousands of beautiful butterflies, poisonous snakes, lizards and monkeys.

Mountains, snow, lagoons, deserts, canyons, colonial cities and jungle. If Bolivia had access to the sea and beaches... it would have it all.
Just don't mention that to a Bolivian, there is a reason, why they still keep their navy in spite of being a land-locked country.

Bolivia was a crazy ride and we loved every minute!

In 1911, exactly 100 years ago, Hiram Bingham, a 35 year old American explorer, climbed the eastern flank of the Andes in search for personal glory and the last city of the Incas. He was looking for Vilcabamba, the city founded by the rebel Inca king Manco and home of the last 4 Inca kings before it was destroyed by the Spaniards. Instead, he found Machu Picchu which made him famous. Bingham claimed up upon his deathbed, that Machu Picchu was Vilcabamba and that he was the finder of that heroic city. Many explorers and scientists after Bingham proved him wrong. Although Machu Picchu is by all means one of the most important and impressive archeological founds in South America, it is not the once famous guerilla capital of the declining Inca Empire. Not all scientists agree, but the most acceptable explanation for Machu Picchu is that it was a royal city build by the Inca king who was responsible for the fast expanding of the Inca empire, Pachacuti, a Quechua word that means ¨earth-shaker¨ or ¨he who turns the world upside down¨. He couldn’t have known that not even 100 years later his enormous empire of more then 6 million inhabitants, stretching from nowadays Colombia to Chili, would be sacked by a handful of Spaniards, and the earth would shake again!

With this background information we started the long planned and long awaited Inca Trek. But not before buying all the Alpaca clothes we didn’t want to buy but had to, because of the cold. We won’t wear them in Berlin friends, promised Ahead of us were four days of hiking on old Inca trails, over Andes peaks of 4.200 meters, through cloud forests, stairs going down and being called Gringo Killers, longing to see that famous city.

The first day was an easy hike past old Inca ruins, great views of snow peaked mountains and getting to know the group we were traveling with. And oh were we lucky in this regard! Without mentioning all the persons in our group, we met so many great people and had lively conversations, interesting energetic life stories and loads of fun. Our guide Elistan told us the old stories about the Inca ruins, as if he fought alongside the Incas against the Spanish conquistadors himself. Extremely enthusiastically he convinced everybody to chew that holy leaf, the coca leaf, which makes you run up a mountain without feeling pain and altitude.

The second day was a day of hardship climbing the highest pass, Dead Woman’s Pass, of 4.200 meters, in pouring ice rain. Grasping for breath and with icy fingers we reached the top where the promised views hid in grey black clouds, kind of disappointing after the struggle. At the camp site in the afternoon, being welcomed with warm coca tea and again delicious food made us forget about this little disappointment real quickly.
The next day, getting up really early in the morning, we knew that we had the longest but also the most differentiated day in front of us. We had to climb over 2 more passes, past several beautifully preserved Inca ruins, diving into a cloud forest where the climate changed instantly and the most diverse and stunning vegetation surrounded us- beautiful flowers, moss-overgrown trees, through which snow covered mountains were visible. It was also the day of the Gringo Killer (Gringo is the word locals use for foreigners)- a 3 hour descent on stairs so huge and steep that your knees and muscles hurt and tremble like hell after 5 minutes. Arriving in the dark, we felt like we couldn’t walk for even 2 steps more.

In order to reach Machu Picchu at sunset we had to get up at 5am. We still felt the pain in our legs, but knew that this day was going to be THE day! Arriving at the Sun Gate, everybody tried to hide the disappointment- the whole valley was hid by a grey fog and clouds. But like always, patience is worth more than gold. After half an hour the wind drove the clouds away and showed us the site we all had been waiting to see. Lying between 2 mountains and the clouds driving through the ruins, Machu Picchu revealed its mystic beauty, at last. Well preserved terraces, buildings made of stones so huge and neatly fit together that no paper can fit in between, an ingenious aqua duct system; Machu is absolutely an architectural wonder. After the obligatory photo-shoot and an extensive and very informative tour through the ruins we had only two things in mind- sleep and beer. The sleep we got on the soft and sun warmed meadow amidst the ruins. The beers with a proper pizza were offered in the most touristy town of whole Peru, Aquas Calientes. It seemed a God sent gift to our tired bodies.

Back in Cusco, at our hostel, we offered the head organization,Yanapanakusun Center, 2 weeks of volunteering. The Yanapanakusun Center has become an important point of reference for domestic workers and rural communities in the Cusco region in Peru. It was founded to respond to the problems which Andean women and teenagers face when they move to the city and begin working as domestic employees.
Vittoria Savio, an Italian woman, runs this center and offers many girls a place to live in this fantastic home. Bas thought he smoked much, but this woman breaks every record We have never seen her without a cigarette and an espresso... ever... EVER!! And then her delicious pasta in the evenings- obviously this was friendship at first sight!

As to our contribution, we offered to translate their info material into English & German and to help with online fundraising. In addition we were asked and offered the opportunity to spend time with local kids, teaching them some English. In these two short weeks we managed to translate some content, set up 2 projects which need funding at betterplace.org and entertain the kids from the neighborhood and the girls from the house with our crippled Spanish and games in English, every evening.
It was hard not to fall in love with these kids. Bas was extremely tempted to stick this cute 5-year old girl in his backpack and adopt her back home- Brangelina feelings again… And then there was Jack: the old, half blind Boxer of the house and Jules’ first dog-love.
All in all, it was really hard to say goodbye to everyone at the center. We loved every minute of it and hope to have made a contribution to this noble cause.

Check it out yourself at www.betterplace.org/de/organisations/yanapanakusun

And here the pic evidence:

Being in Cusco, once the capital of the Inca Empire, located in the Andes at 3326m above sea level, forces you to contemplate about the great as well as nasty things human kind is capable of. Is it the thin air that influences your thinking? Or the mystical talk about energy lines and cosmic influences? Is it the brutal destruction of local culture by the Spanish conquistadors and the catholic missionaries? Is it maybe the confrontation with Peru’s more recent struggle with violence and poverty? Or is it just us constantly chewing coca leaves? We can´t provide you with a straight answer, but travelling through Peru in the last weeks has brought so many impressions, so many thoughts and even more questions.

The easiest way to tell this story is by starting in Lima, the capital of Peru located in the desert at the west coast. This is where we started and this is where Francisco Pizarro founded this City of Kings in 1535. The story goes that Pizarro founded the new capital, which before was an unimportant urban center, on a sunny day and that he was unaware of the usual weather conditions in Lima. Most of the year Lima is covered by a depressing grey mist, which makes you want to jump of the cliff, if the food wasn´t that good No man with a right set of mind would found a capital in this area abandoned by God and prone to massive earthquakes.
The historical center is filled with beautiful churches and colonial mansions with marvelous wooden balconies, which were so typical for the Spanish way of building. These churches and palaces are built on ruins, which were once important to the locals, of course. Killing them and stealing their gold wasn´t enough. The Spanish conquistadores had to eliminate their culture as well. This is why one has mixed feelings being surrounded by so much beauty. All have a history of blood and destruction before becoming an institution of Good.

Talking about good and truly Peruvian; on our first night we experienced multiple orgasms tasting Ceviche, Anticucho and Pisco Sour. Beforehand we were unaware of the rise of traditional Peruvian food to the Olympus of Haute Cuisine. Ceviche, marinated raw sea food melts in your mouth, Anticucho cow heart from the grill, is a pleasure for every carnivore and Pisco Sour should be introduced to every bar all over the world. Only the Guinea Pig we still manage to resist. All this combined with Peru´s hope to conquer the Copa America, what a great start to Peru.

The next day, during a historical tour we were astonished by Lima´s beauty but also stricken by the slums on the mountain overlooking the historical center. From this mountain the Shining Path launched in the 80´s it´s terror on the city and was brutally crushed by the technocratic ex-president Fujimori, who is currently serving 20 years in jail for corruption and violation of human rights. Whether you look at the past or the present, Peru is complicated.

We fled misty Lima for a date with the sun, sand dunes and some luxury for J´s birthday. Climbing the sand dunes ourselves proved way too hard, because of J´s advanced age. So, we jumped on a buggy to have a crazy roller coaster ride through one of the world’s highest sand dunes in an endless sand desert. Diving down the sand dunes on a sand board made us grasp for breath in between loud outcries for mercy. Now imagine how we felt seeing the sun set behind these huge mountains of sand and nothing but sand around us.

Next on our agenda was to see another of the cutest animals on earth. After the elephant and the panda it was time for the penguins. Armed with our cam and the warmest clothing (we had then), we head to the Islas Ballestas. Naked cliffs ranging out of the pacific, being home to a crazy amount of different birds including pelicans and them… PENGUINS and them… SEA LIONS. Having hundreds of birds cruisin´ above us and probably enjoying to see us hide from their rich amounts of guano (you can think, what it is…) we still managed to enjoy the sight and have an unforgettable glance at this nature spectacle. Man, penguins are cute and sea lions are lazy!

In Peru one is constantly aware of the ancient cultures, not only the Inca, but also e.g. Paracas & Nasca before them. They were not only creative with their fabrics, but also with deformation of heads for fashionability, scull operations for releasing demons & onion-like mummification in fetus position for a nice after-life. Walking through Museo Regional in Ica, we were astonished about the creativity and master hood of these people on one hand and their cruelty and crazy beliefs on the other. Hmm… why would someone have never-ending migraines, when his skull was pushed to become a cone… yeah, that´s certainly demons wanting to escape… so let´s open the skull to free them… sound logical, right?!

Now it was time to start climbing the altitude. Next stop on our itinerary was Arequipa- a step away from indigenous to colonial beauty at its best! The city, surrounded by 4 sleeping volcanoes and constantly shaken by earthquakes, offers it all- architecture, cuisine, tranquility and gorgeous landscapes. The city’s main attraction is the monastery Santa Catalina. This citadel was a place for rich girls to commit themselves to god, in reality without forgetting to party and have slaves within these gracious walls until at one point a pope put his finger on this privilege. Today, a couple dozens of nuns live there ascetic lives in an extra section and crowds of tourists, including ourselves, enjoy getting lost for hours in this colorful labyrinth.

At the moment we are still in Cusco, doing 2 weeks of volunteering at The Yanapanakusun Centre. We set up a project at Betterplace.org and are trying to teach the local children some English. In our next blog entry we will tell you all about it.. and of course how we survived the Inca Trek to Machu Picchu!

But first take a look at:

http://www.betterplace.org/de/organisations/yanapanakusun

Making a 3 week stop in Cuba, taking a rest after Asia and warming-up for South-America was probably one of the best decisions we made so far. What better place to relax then Cuba? White beaches, turquoise seas, colonial cities, streets filled with old-timers and nights with Cuba-Libre, Mojito, live-music and dancing people.
It was also a Wiedersehen with home again, as Bas´ cousin Gijs (Jose for the Cubans and el Hombre for the intimate insiders) flew into Cuba from Holland. Amazing how small the world has become. We flew from Beijing to Havana with 2 lay-overs in Canada and Gijs flew from Amsterdam to Varadero and took the bus to Havana. We showed up at our casa particular 3 minutes after each other. How happy we were when Gijs opened his bag and showed us Lays Paprika Chips, Winegums, Mentos and Dutch magazines. Of course we were also happy to see him Our first night started and ended with many, many Cuba-Libres, pizza, live music, Gijs dancing the Salsa and an old-timer taxi drive home.

Havana is exactly how you picture it. Beautiful old colonial buildings, some of them renovated but most of them completely rundown. Empty shops with long queues of Cubans. Old-timers at every corner. Paintings and slogans on many buildings glorifying Che and la revolucion. The bars and restaurants don’t have everything that´s on the menu, but all have live-music. Men on the street offer rum and cigars while the women offer other services. We roamed the streets of La Habana Vieja absorbing the atmosphere and adjusting to the rhythm and pace of the Cubans.
We visited La Plaza de la Revolucion, the immense square, where Fidel used to give his 6hrs marathon speeches, and where you find the famous huge portraits of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos on the government buildings. We had a lively discussion among us three; which square is uglier- this one or Alexanderplatz? The Venezuelans (Cuba´s most recent political lovers) didn’t seem to mind the ugliness. They collectively saluted the national monument of Jose Marti, a Cuban hero of the independence movement against the Spanish, and seemed to enjoy the socialist coziness of uniformity and collectivity.

At night we celebrated Gijs´ birthday in Casa de la Musica. Celebration on Cuba is only a real party when having 3 attributes: live salsa music, el ron & a 1st class puro (cigar). Of course we had it all Driving home in a tuned Moskvich Крокодил with loud pumping local Latino hip hop rounded up a great night.

After 4 days of pretending to be “Our man in Havana”, we left for Santa Clara, the last resting place of Che. The monument and the statue are huge, but his mausoleum is really graceful & peaceful. In Santa Clara the last and decisive battle against dictator Batista´s troops was fought under command of Che. Outnumbered by many, Che and his rebel forces triumphed and made la Revolucion on the 1st of January 1959 a fact.

Trinidad at the south coast is a city of astonishing beauty. It was founded by the Spaniards in the 16th century and nothing really has changed since. Time has stood still in Trinidad- small cobbled streets, beautiful churches, pastel colored one-story houses all surrounded by lush green mountains and the sea. We stayed with a family in a wonderful colonial house with an elegant courtyard where we had delicious breakfasts and lobster for dinner.

Living in a UNESCO World Heritage city may be nice, except when you´re poor. We gave away some small things on the street and were immediately surrounded by an intimidating crowd asking for more. Socialism at its worst! Cuba is yet another example of a state planned and controlled economy and society, which is not functioning. The ideas of la Revolucion and el Socialismo are absolutely great and worth fighting for. One cannot deny that Fidel, Raul and Che started with the best intentions for the people in Latin America. Illiteracy was taken on and diminishes to 1% in 1 year. The health care was revolutionized and made free for everyone. The GNP of Cuba rose in the first two decades after the revolution, not in the last place because of the collective effort of the Cuban people.
But you gotta ask yourself; what is good about socialism when you have to imprison you political opponents, when the country´s intelligentsia flees abroad, when the health care is for free but no medicine is available, when you people are standing in lines in front of empty shops and when your doctors, professors and engineers are forced to work in hotels and restaurants. Change is slowly coming to Cuba though and if you talk to people, you sense that they look forward to a brighter future with more opportunities.

In Che´s words: “I know that when the great guiding spirit cleaves humanity into two antagonistic halves, I would be with the people … I steel my body, ready to do battle, and prepare myself to be a sacred space within which the bestial howl of the triumphant proletariat can resound with new energy and new hope.”

Staying at casas particulares with the locals was a great way of travelling through Cuba. We got to enjoy their lovely homes, warm hospitality and nice home-cooking. Before going to Varadero for a week of sea and beach we were afraid that we would have to stay in a resort. Luckily they recently made casas particulares available in Varadero as well.

We loved the white beaches and turquoise colored sea. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Gijs who flew back to Holland. After he left we comforted ourselves with Cuba Libres and Mojitos. We did some marvelous snorkeling and spent many lazy days with many books on the beach.

The last week on Cuba we went west and discovered the beautiful nature of Pinar del Rio and Viñales. Hiking through the amazing valley surrounded by limestone mountains was stunning. We tasted Coco Loco, a coconut filled with juice and rum, watched cigar-making at a famous tobacco plantation and enjoyed some more of the peace and tranquility Cuba has to offer.

Cuba was a perfect appetizer for anything to come in South America.

Lijiang in West China is a beautiful old city in the mountains and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that attracts more tourists per year than any other site or city worldwide. Reason enough to go... and reason enough not to go. Lijiang is turned into a touristic theme park where you fight your way through small alleys overrun by yellow, red & blue baseball caps. Still, walking through the small cobbled streets, looking at the traditional houses, overseeing the city from a hill, it´s hard not to be astonished by its preserved beauty.
For us, Lijiang was also the base camp for the 2 day hike through Tiger Leaping Gorge. In this area the Yangtze River smashes into two mountains becoming a really small gorge where, as the legend tells us, a tiger escaped its hunter by leaping on a stone to the other side.
We started the high trail over the mountain together with a Spanish geologist, Xavi, and two Chinese guys, Gong & Samuel, whom we met in our hostel. Apart from the fun we had together these guys were the best hiking partners we could wish for. Xavi explained everything about the different sort of stones and the old landslides we encountered. Gong and Samuel knew exactly which dishes to choose from every menu.
The first day we walked to the top, where we had a great view from above over the gorge and the mountain scenery. After 7 hours of hiking we finally threw out our shoes and enjoyed the sunset over the mountains with a cold beer. Our room in the little wooden bungalow on the top had a balcony where we saw the sun rise again next morning. On our way down we finally got to the river instead of looking at it from above. We were standing between the mountains which looked like 2 steep walls almost touching each other leaving just a little bit of room to let that powerful water through. An amazing piece of nature of which we hope it will be preserved as the Chinese are already test-drilling and setting up construction sites nearby. The rumor goes they want to build another big dam in this part of the river.

When we got out of the airport at Chengdu, a city we never heard of but has 11 million inhabitants, we couldn’t see the sun for 2 days and learned what smog looks like. A grey blanket over your city which makes you feel depressed and longing for blue skies. Kinda like Berlin in the winter, only much warmer.
Although Chengdu is a huge city, it’s absolutely laid back. It’s located in the Sichuan Province and famous for its tea-house culture. Everywhere you see small cafe´s or terraces where people are playing cards or Mahjong and enjoying their cup of tea. Buying tea in local shops is transformed in a long ritual in which you get to taste the tea and they explain every impact the tea has on body and mind. Strolling over the antique market we found our beautiful Mahjong game which we bought after hard, long and intense bargaining. We walked away several times, J played the angry part and B acted insulted. We´re really becoming experts in bargaining and the bartenders and taxi drivers in Berlin will suffer! Promise!
What? 2,50 for a beer? I´ll give you 1,- for it. But only because it´s you my friend. Because I like you!

On the other hand, what we´re really looking forward to is taking a taxi without the hassle regarding the destination. Imagine:
- To Club Watergate please!
- No Sir, Watergate is closed, there was a huge fire, but I´ll take you to my brothers Doenerladen. There they have good beer too!
- No, take me to Watergate.
- But Sir, my family has to eat too!

In China it was helpful though when you got pulled into a restaurant before you could refuse. In Chengdu we discovered the Sichuan Hot Pot this way. And if they say Hot Pot, they do mean HOOOOOOOT. In the middle of the table they place a boil with liquid filled with chilis, only chili and some more chilis. In this liquid which makes you sweat just by looking at it, you cook your fish, meat and vegetables. The restaurant owner took our picture book and pointed at a lot of things. We nodded yes like stupid tourists, but the result was a great meal, loads of tears and sweating only to be stopped with liters of beer and kilo´s of white rice.

Chengdu is also famous for its Panda Breeding Resort. Here scientists perform research on breeding and survival skills of the Panda. If you look at them you´ll understand why they need a little help. God, are they lazy. The only thing that matters to them is eating bamboo. They sit like All Bundy on the couch leaning against a tree eating their bamboo sticks and having crumbs all over them. It´s hard to imagine that the Panda´s already live 8 million years and are one of the oldest species alive. We spent a day at the resort as volunteers and got to feed them and see them up-close. Look at the pictures and smile. God, are the cute!

China is the land of contradictions. Half of its inhabitants (and that´s a looot of people) have to live of less than 1 dollar a day. The other half though is definitely occupied by a natural habitat of consuming operandi. We knew China had opened up to the world but still expected a little bit more of the good old communism. No way, capitalism has won and stroke down communism like Barcelona beat Manchester; without a chance!
On the main square of Chengdu there´s a huge statue of Mao. Around him there are huge buildings with neon lights that perform a light show at night that would make the King of Pop jealous. The arm of Mao is stretched out over his people pointing at something. If you look close and follow his finger, you´ll see that he is pointing at a huge yellow arched M. Hopefully Mao has a sense of humor, otherwise he is turning in his mausoleum.
Mao is also eternally present at Tianmen Square in Beijing. His huge portrait hangs over the entrance of the Forbidden City and his corpse can still be visited in the big mausoleum in the middle of the square. On this huge square surrounded by socialist buildings, you only have to close your eyes to see the big parades go by.

What a contrast compared to the architecture of the Forbidden City and the not-so-socialist life the emperors lived between these walls. Here you´ll find palace after palace, temples, beautiful gardens and nicely decorated houses for the emperors, his family and his many many concubines. We walked around for many hours listening to the audio guide and wondered with a little smile how life would look like between these magnificent walls.
What is better? A non-egalitarian society which is ruled by divine emperors or a supposed to be egalitarian socialist society ruled by some dictator and his party chefs? In both societies the few have everything and the many have not. At least the emperors had the courage to state that they were better than everybody else and didn’t create a lie about the farmers and simple people being the backbone of society. Mao souvenirs are sold all over Beijing, you´ll find his little red book all over town, the Chinese visit his mausoleum and get their picture taken by his huge portrait. How are we supposed to interpreted this? Like an innocent curiosity displayed by Chinese tourists visiting their capital? Like a distasteful naivety by the masses? Or do they really believe in the myth of Mao and close their eyes for his monstrosities? We´ll guess we´ll never know, because political conversations are not done, especially not with strangers or tourists. Who could blame them?
1 thing Mao accomplished though with his cultural revolution. In the 5 weeks we travelled through China, we didn’t see 1 person reading a book in public. On all the planes, trains, automobiles and busses we took, we didn’t discover 1 book, only a lot of video games played on touch screens.

We saved the best for last. One hasn’t experienced Beijing without eating Peking-Duck and one hasn’t seen China without climbing the Great Wall. The desire to have a good Peking-Duck led us to a well known huge typical Chinese restaurant. After been seated we ordered 1 duck, some bread and some sauces. If you order duck, its only duck you eat! After some time and build-up suspension our duck was brought in on a tray and sliced up live before our eyes. His head was nicely opened and gracefully presented in the middle of the table.... Now you guess......
After the waitress taught us how to make the proper sandwich our senses were delighted with the taste of the original Peking-Duck!

Climbing on the Great Wall is possible in many locations around Beijing. We decided for the furthest, least touristic and mostly unrenovated part. Walking turned into climbing on a wall that was sometimes near to collapse. The sense of history, human accomplishment and length was ever present and overwhelming. At some parts we were completely alone with ancient name inscriptions carved in the stones and the view of kilometers of wall climbing up and down the hills. Again we experienced one of the great world wonders that didn’t disappoint. One has to be astonished by the greatness and pointlessness of the endeavors of mankind.

Asia was about to end for us and we had a 24 hour flight to Cuba ahead. What better way to end these 4 incredible months then to have drinks with friends we met on the road?! Not only Xavi made his way to Beijing, but also Ingrid and Geoffroy, whom we met in India, Laos and again China, made our last evening in Asia a perfect farewell party.

Thank you Asia and here we come Latin-America!!!!

Travelling in China adds a new dimension to being lost in translation. Trying to figure out the destinations written in Chinese characters has become a great game between us. That Character looks the Eiffel Tower, That one like a jumping person with weird hair and isn't this a Christmas tree? The one who finds the bus to the Eiffel Tower last, gets dog for dinner.
Showing the Chinese a small book with pictures, words and questions in Chinese helps but the answers they give don't of course. But the people are so friendly and helpful. The bus drivers take you to the next bus and a girl who could speak English bought our train tickets before she took us out for dinner, hoping that when she might make it to Europe, people would treat her the same.

So friends, if you see a Chinese tourist, make sure you take her out for Schnitzel and beers before buying her a one way ticket to Rostock

We are only 1 week here but saw already so much. We visited Guilin, located at the beautiful Li river. Here the landscape is dominated by karst peaks carved by the elements into bizarre shapes, each one with a name and an associated legend, through which the river cuts. Even though the weather was foggy, the boat ride between these peaks was wonderful and showed us a landscape never seen before and only to be seen in China.

In the evening the girls from the guesthouse taught us to play Mahjong. Trying to make combinations of Chinese characters was another mental challenge which we're going to put on you guys, when we're back, because we're definitely gonna buy this great game. Be prepared for good food, plenty of booze and playing till deep in the night at our home in Berlin.

Travelling from Guilin to Ping'An was a dodgy ride through mountains in a bus, which almost fell apart, filled with locals, mostly from the ethnic group "Dong". The Dong people are famous for their wooden houses, drum towers as well as rain- and wind-bridges. Ping'An is a mass tourism location for the Chinese themselves and during the day you get overrun by red and yellow baseball caps and guides with funny coloured flags shouting into microphones. Obviously the Chinese still know how to organize and manage the masses :-) But the views on the most extreme rice terracing you'll find anywhere are definitely worth it. For 700 years the Dong farmers have been growing these rice terraces steep up the mountains. We arrived at another Dong village, Zhaoxing, after 9 hours in the bus completing as much as 90km. The atmospheric villages, the traditional people, the beautiful wooden wind- and rain-bridges and the amazing mountain scenery packed with rice terraces is absolutely the China you dream of.

And then, there is the food. We loved Indian & Thai food but the Chinese definitely win! With our little book we point at a cow and some vegetables and then they just show up with the most delicious dishes. Wow, can they cook!!

What else can we say about the Chinese? Their cities are crowded, filled with ugly socialist buildings and smog is something you pick out of your nose in the morning. Their phones are on maximum volume, but when they talk they're even louder- shouting in their fake Nokias. Every man, and we do mean EVERY man smokes, no matter where - on the train, in the bus, in restaurants, in hotel rooms and on the toilets where they sit between two little walls, where everyone can see them. They build in superlatives. Every bridge, tunnel or highway seems a hundred times bigger than ours in Europe. They're small but they're with many. They love to wear uniforms and sports is a group thing performed in parks.

In sum, up till now it is our favorite country on this journey. The country side and landscapes are amazing and so are the people and the food. Right now we are in Dali and tomorrow heading to Lijiang, where we are gonna conquer Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Stay tuned, friends!

Where to stay if you are going to Hong Kong? Lamma Island, of course. The island where no traffic is allowed, where the fish look you in the eye before you decide to kill and eat them, where the jungle is still lush and where you can retreat in a green, peaceful, alternative oasis after a day in Sky Scraper City.

We were invited by Shaun and Natalie, friends we met in Goa, India. We stayed for a week in their lovely apartment with their great dog Joleen and sea view from their terrace. They introduced us to the life locals live in HK. And what an awesome life this is!!!
Our days were filled with Dim Sum for breakfast and live gigs in the evening. During the days we did sight seeing in HK, went to the beach, didn't forget to shop and enjoyed all the luxury HK has to offer. Looking at the huge shops of Armani, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, we had to watch out not to get run over by a Maserati, Benz or a Bentley. Our flash-packer-look was diminished to the back-packer-look after 5 min in HK.

But looks don't matter if you are introduced to the rocking music scene of HK. The David Bowie Knives, the band Shaun plays in, are known to be sexier than Angelina Jolie... FACT!! ... and the live performance was very much like aural sex! Natalie is the Kim Deal version of HK and looked even lovelier with her bass guitar. We got to meet loads of amazing people... and a great guy.

We sipped cocktails at a roof-top bar overlooking THE skyline having pseudo political conversations (Jules couldn't resist, of course) ;
Ended up in a run down living room calling itself a gallery, where everyone who could play an instrument jammed till dawn;
Chartered a luxurious Chinese boat back to Lamma Island in the middle of the night;
Had great sea-food;
Enjoyed a birthday party at a beach full of men with too small shorts and too much bronzing oil;
Got to cook a home-made dinner after three months of choosing from a menu;
Gave our bodies the much needed sleep until noon every day;
And loved the company of Joleen, the biggest and cutest "puppy" of all times.

We absolutely fell in love with the nice life style in HK and it was hard to resist the temptation to move there.

Hong Kong, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do
Now you're in Hong Kong
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong

This blog entry might seem short, but that's just because we finally enjoyed a week of normal life again after all these weeks on the road. Hong Kong, Shaun, Natalie and Joleen gave us exactly what we needed and hoped for!!!

Dear friends,

Sometimes when you travel you get followed by some recurring themes. Escaping from slavery is a theme that has been haunting us on our way through Cambodia. It all started on our first night in Phnom Penh. To celebrate the Jewish Passover in remembrance of their escape from Egyptian slavery, we went to the Jewish community house in Phnom Penh to have a traditional Sedar. The dinner ceremony was led by orthodox Jews and attended by fellow travelers and expats. Orthodox Jews in Cambodia is not a common sight and it felt like we had traveled through a time-culture machine. We ate, drank, prayed and discussed several themes including slavery back in the days and slavery in modern times. Are we really free because we have wealth and live in free democratic societies or are we still enslaved by depending on modern technology and luxury and by the sometimes overwhelming social pressure that's put on us every day?

With these questions in the back of our minds we visited the genocide museum and the Killing Fields. 5 years long the Cambodians were enslaved and terrorized by the Red Khmer. People were driven out of the city to work on the land under the worst circumstances you can imagine. Schools were closed and the intelligentsia got killed by Brother Number 1 Pol Pot, a teacher who studied at the Sorbonne we might add. The experts are uncertain but it's safe to say that about 2 million people were killed by the Red Khmer. We walked on the Killing Fields where we had to be careful not to step on bone fragments and teeth which still wash up after a rainy day.
The French colonization until the 50's, the carpet-bombing of the US which killed 1/4 million Cambodians in the 60's, the land mines and the terror of the Red Khmer in the 70's... the Cambodians have gone through too many and their way out of slavery has just begun only to be challenged by a new form of slavery..... the Dollar.

This manifests itself in positive but also in dark ways. Thailand is well on its way to ban sex tourism but Cambodia has only just begun. Sihanoukville at the coast is yet another Lloret de Mar where white granddads walk hand in hand with colored almond eyes granddaughters. Tuktuk drivers think you're there to party and instead of a drive to the beach they offer you drugs and girls.
Who should we be angry with? The western tourist who buys himself a second (or first ) life, or the Cambodians who sell out their culture and woman for some dollar? Do the Cambodians adjust to our demand or do we adjust our demand and behavior to their offering?

Fortunately we could escape these economic transactions and take the boat to a deserted island, Koh Rong. Never-ending white beaches with no one on it and turquoise crystal clear water. We stayed for a week, went diving, snorkeling, got eaten by insects & enjoyed the quiet time after two and a half months traveling. On our way back to the main land we learned that the island was recently leased for 99 years to a big company who is gonna turn the island into a big luxury resort. So much for Dollars @ work.

Siem Reap is quite a different story though. This booming city is filled with hotels & all the luxury tourists hope for, but here the Cambodians make money presenting their cultural heritage to the public. After all the misery this country went through, you tend to forget; Cambodia has Angkor Wat. The Khmer Empire was once a mighty empire in the region which built the biggest & most impressive religious sites in the world. Angkor Wat is huge, but Bayon, the temple with 54 towers with each 4 Buddha faces is just breath taking. We didn't pull a Lara Croft but were very impressed by Ta Prohm, the temple which is being eaten away by the jungle. We spent two days visiting the temples and still, we didn't see all of them. But we were glad to see Dollars @ at work in a more positive way.

How to end this quasi serious intellectual story? Maybe by accepting that there always will be some form of slavery, but that the more important question is how you deal with it. The Cambodians certainly found a good way. They are proud of their heritage, have fun & laugh a lot, are open to discuss their troubled past, but seem to be looking at a brighter future. A future in which hopefully we, western tourists, learn to consume more responsibly in this beautiful country.

Next time a more fun story from China... promised! About pingpong, eating dog.. and swaffeling the Great Wall!

Always wanted to celebrate New Year in 40 degrees Celsius? Don't want to throw firework but water at each other? Fed up with standing in queue in the cold to get into a club and rather get drunk in the open air? Come to Laos and all your wishes will be fulfilled.

Before we dived into the celebration, we made our way east from the capital Vientiane to Konglor. Here you'll find the Kong Lor Cave, the longest cave in the world, which penetrates the mountain for 7,5 km. Sitting in a small boat entering the cave, seeing the lights disappear was a spectacular and also scary experience. We never witnessed such an earthly place in our lives. We passed stalagmites & stalactites and for the rest only the darkest of darkness for two hours. We loved the ride but were happy to see the sun again, so we could catch the bus south.

After long days and nights in non-airco buses which break down every hour, where loud Lao music is played & where they put more people in and luggage on it, then would fit in a jumbo jet, we finally arrived in Pakse in the south to celebrate New Year.
We first joined the Lao people in the ceremony where they wash the Buddha statues and the monks with flower-water. The young wash the elderly & everybody binds strings on each others arms for good-luck. After that the whole town changed into a war-zone with Lao people getting drunk & having huge water fights in the streets. There was no smell of Napalm in the morning but it felt like Apocalypse Now. We bought a huge water-machine-gun and roamed the streets looking to shoot easy victims. They threw water in buckets at us, fed us BeerLao and painted us like Rambo.

The second day of New Year (they celebrate 3 days) we wanted to take a break and hired a scooter to drive into the hills to see waterfalls. The falls were lovely and we had nice recreation time but driving through villages on the scooter was no picnic. People were throwing water in gallons and open 4-wheel-drives filled with youth gangs joined the water slaughter. After witnessing several car incidents we gave operation "Save Haven" a go, moved to Defcon 4 and we wiped out the entire village with our water machine-gun only to return home safely.

Right now we are enjoying the peace at 4000 islands. The area is called that because it consists of thousands of little islands on the Mekong. Time has stood still here because it is too hot to move, even for time. But it's beautiful, the sunsets are breath taking, the dolphins are too cute to be true, and living live in a hammock is just great. Tomorrow we'll hit the Cambodian border. We'll dump the gun before that, but we'll try to smuggle a Buddha statue and an opium pipe (Moms, don't worry!!) over the border. If we need a lawyer, we'll let you know..

P.S. For all the ones who were skeptical about us leaving our comfort life for a backpacker life, we post some pictures of the average hotel room we stay in during this trip, just to prove you wrong.

Dear friends,

Life is good again! We are sitting on the balcony of our beautiful hotel in Luang Prabang, overlooking the Mekong river, sipping BeerLao while the communist flag is waving proudly in the humid air. The flag and some party uniforms are the only attributes that remind you that Laos is a communist state. Everybody else in this beautiful French influenced town seems to enjoy a bourgeois life. The pace of Luang Prabang seems to be dominated by the slow stream of the mighty Mekong. Slow boats go up and down the river which makes its way through forest mountains. Many western tourists roam the streets and if we didn't know any better, Luang Prabang could easily be mistaken for any city in the middle of France.

What a difference compared to what we experienced last week.

Before crossing the boarder to Laos we went to the Golden Triangle in northern Thailand. This area is notorious for it's poppy-fields and opium trafficking between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos & China. We visited the Hall of Opium, a huge museum dedicated to illuminate the role of opium trade in the colonial era, the effects it had on society & people and how it almost destroyed China.
The Lao and Thai governments stroke down hard the opium trade, a measure which still has huge effects on the hill tribes living in the region. Robbed of their source of income, they had to move to lower regions and return to their former agricultural living, growing rice, tea, rubber, bananas and water melons.

We went on a 3day hill tribe trek in the middle of nowhere in northern Laos around a little place called Muang Sing. Few tourists make it up here so we were the only ones going up the mountains with our local guide Mr. Mai. Every day we walked for 6-7hrs, climbing up and down mountains, walking through rubber-tree fields and banana plantations and visiting small villages where the Akha and Monk people try to make a living. The Akha are a hill tribe who are animist believing in good and bad spirits, have exceptional knowledge of agriculture in the mountains as well as weaving textiles. They live a poor life in northern Laos, except for those families who made a fortune with opium. They usually live in brick houses and have satellite.
Entering through a gate to prevent evil spirits coming into the village, we saw what poverty means in rural Laos. Until now we were only confronted with poverty in big cities, but this is different. Small bamboo-huts, no toilets, everyone taking showers publicly in the center of the village in a little water basin and children running around in dirty torn cloths with running noses. Most grown-ups have dark red lips and black teeth constantly spitting out the paan, made of betel leaf with tobacco. They look totally different compared with poor people in an Indian city who still try to look neat.

Everywhere you look there are pigs, dogs, chickens, buffaloes and goats contributing to the sound and picture of the village. Kids will be kids. They jump on you, play, challenge your boundaries, are curious and love to get their picture taken. Staying, eating and sleeping in their villages made us feel contradictory. On the one hand it was a truly remarkable experience. On the other hand we felt like observing intruders who would return to their posh life soon.
Sometimes we felt like Brangelina, with the looks of course :-) but less good feelings about our presence. Don't worry, we didn't adopt abandoned twins :-)
By the way, talking about twins; Akha people believe that twins bring evil spirits. This is why in the past they would not nurture them to let them die and today, after government involvement, they give twins away for adoption.

The second village we slept in, people really tried to make us feel at home. We communicated with hands and feet and sat together with them in our bamboo hut. We drank Lao-Lao, a self distilled hard alcohol (рисовый самогон), which we did happily, knowing it would kill any bacteria in our stomach. Imagine our joy when we had to drink Lao-Lao again the next morning BEFORE breakfast (voelen wat Pierre voelt).

Our guide, Mr Mai, turned out not only to be a great guide but also a formidable cook. Lunch was served on banana leaves and every evening he cooked the most delicious, healthy meals on a fire in the corner of our hut. In India we managed to escape masala for breakfast, but this time we had to learn to enjoy a Lao noodle-soup early in the morning.

Before we left on this trek, we were worried that traveling with a governmental trekking company would be a Soviet experience, bringing us only to prosperous villages to show off on the communist "reality". Instead we got a remarkable insight into rural live in one of the poorest countries in South East Asia.
As already mentioned in the introduction, we finally did return to our posh life. First experiencing some scruples we now happily enjoy our time in beautiful Luang Prabang.

Dear friends!

Apart from the great food and hot weather, Thailand sometimes seems to consist of only two things: Wats (Buddhist Temples) & elephants. Both are sacred and beautiful, but whereas the first are always treated with respect, it sadly cannot always be said about the latter.

We visited Sukothai, another great ancient capital of Thai culture. The historical park filled with temples & ruins lies deserted but beautifully preserved between huge mango trees & bodhi trees (Ficus religiosa). The huge Buddhas seem to guide us everywhere we go.
Arriving in the cultural capital of northern Thailand, Chiang Mai, we are guided by both Buddha & Elephants. Statues of elephants are integrated in temples and real elephants seem to be a big touristic business.

Today we visited an Elephant Nature Park where old, sick or parentless elephants are nurtured and given a nice life close to living in the wild, after the abuse they suffered.
Although the elephant is a sacred animal in Thailand, their owners often don't treat them well. A part of the tribal culture of the rural villages is to break the elephants spirit before he is put to work.
The founder of the park we went to tries to save the elephants from this life and to educate the people at the same time. There are some 38 elephants living in this park. Among them are two baby-elephants who were born there. One elephant has a broken hip because of the hard work she had to do before. Another one has a leg crippled by a land-mine in Burma. The most tragic story is the one of the blind elephant. She had lost her baby because her owner wouldn't let her nurture it. After it died she refused to work any longer ans they stabbed her eyes out.

We spent the day learning about the elephants, feeding and bathing them. Seeing these huge creatures acting socially, protecting their babies, playing around and enjoying their bath really does something to you.

Let the pictures speak for themselves ;-)

Dear friends,

Your favorite travelers survived India and after recovering in Bangkok, we are travelling up north in Thailand.
Thinking of Bangkok as a place to recover sounds ridiculous, but after India it was.

The last week in India was great. Fort Kochi is a truly laid back small city and the tour over the backwaters was amazing. Life really slows down in these little villages surrounded by nothing but water.
We decided to end our last 48 hours in India with a bang! People say that many things are not that amazing when you actually see them. We wanted to find out if this was true for the Taj Mahal. So we took the hassle and the risk of missing our flight to Bangkok & jumped on the train to Agra to catch a couple hours of sleep in a shitty hostel, but to see the sun rise above the Taj.
Friends, we were not disappointed. the Taj at sunrise is a picture from a fairytale.
Walking through Agra made us understand why people warned us for India. North India is way more dirty and poor than the South. What we have seen in that region was a different dimension of poverty.

Surprisingly we arrived on time back in Delhi and after being yelled at and followed by a gang of taxi drivers, we somehow managed to get to the airport in one piece. After 4 weeks of having great Indian food, it was almost an insult to this great culture, when we were celebrating a food orgy at McDonald's. (Bas was having a Maharadja Burger though...)

Imagine our surprise when we arrived in Bangkok and it was 22 degrees & raining. But after a couple of days it went back to 35. For us, Bangkok was the cleanest, nicest, most relaxing place one could imagine. Still, we were walking around thinking: "Don't mention the King". We mentioned the King once on the first day, but we think we got away with it ;-)

The streets of Thailand are where life is happening- from football to aerobic lessons and from street food to dancing in the rain... EVERYTHING happens on the streets.

The first night at Khaosan Road, where the backpackers hide from Thai culture but not from Thai girls, we got drunk the very first time during our trip. From day one in Thailand, too, temples are a big part of our daily lives. Imagine how astonished we were when a monk, after giving us a nice tour through his beautiful monastery & temple, apologized for taking our time. How can one not love the Thai people?!

If you ever go to Bangkok, make sure you go to the Saxophone Bar, where beer is served by pretty ladyboys, the big-band is just amazing and Thai men are challenging you to play pool. Another great ting to see is the view over Bangkok from the Sky Bar on the 65th floor where the height is as rocketing as the prices.

Right now we are in Ayutthaya, enjoying the ancient capital of Thailand. Sipping a cold beer, being totally kapputt from riding a bike through the ruins of this once great city in exhausting heat & humidity, we are longing to travel up north. More temples & jungle are awaiting us！！